1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an interactive respiratory regulator comprising:
a recording device recording the respiratory pattern of a user and producing a corresponding respiratory signal, PA1 an instruction signal generator for generating an instruction signal that can be perceived by the user in order to influence his respiratory behavior, PA1 a control device controlling the instruction signal generator, PA1 a processing device which determines by means of a parameter of the respiratory signal received whether the respiratory pattern recorded during a predetermined time span meets a pre-adjustable standard for this parameter, and which at a certain error percentage sends a starting signal to the control device.
2. Description of Related Art
An apparatus of this kind, indicating to a user a desirable respiratory pattern, is known from the Netherlands patent specification 166.850, whereby this apparatus, In particular to combat the hyperventilation syndrome, is provided with a device for determining the cycle time. The corresponding frequency of the respiratory cycles is applied as parameter for the respiratory pattern. The recording device, being for instance a strain gauge or a mercury wire recorder applied to the chest of the user, produces a pulse signal with a repeat frequency corresponding with the respiratory frequency. This signal is fed to a time-determining device which compares this frequency with a present standard or limit value. As soon as this processing device determines that the respiratory frequency is higher than the limit frequency it will set off a sound generator which during each respiratory cycle produces two, for the patient audible and differentiable tones.
However, not only patients suffering from hyperventilation, the symptom of which is an abnormally high respiratory frequency, exhibit a non-optimal respiratory behavior, but also users who suffer, for instance, from phobias or psychic traumas of any kind.
Describing the pattern of such a non-optimal respiration solely in terms of respiration frequency was shown not always to be adequate. The present invention ensues from the search for a useful, instructive feedback to the user with non-optimal respiratory patterns including others besides those which occur through hyperventilation. On these grounds it has been concluded that in order to analyze a respiratory pattern correctly, knowledge of especially the ratio between the in- and exhalation times is indispensable. The pause after exhalation is also an important parameter.
The known apparatus described above has, however, the limitation that it does not include that necessary extra information in the feedback process, thus offering insufficient possibilities for application to remedy disorders or to correct deficient respiratory patterns in general.